DANCES WITH PITCHES.

HURTIN' UNITS VS. THE SONS OF PITCHES -II

Game #6 - June 2nd, 2015

Hurtin' Units lose 12-7

Team Record - 2-4-0

Coventry Park- Keogh Park was not our friend; we played 3 games there and came away with 3 losses. One game was close, 24-23 with the Beer Bros., one game was not as close, 22-15 against the Tap Masters and the third, definitely not even close, 22-9 against the Master Batters. A bit of a rough patch to start the season. 

This game marks the second time around for our team and the Sons of Pitches to play each other this season. There are still more teams (most really) that we haven't even seen yet. On May 12th we played the Sons of Pitches and came away with our 2nd win of the season by a score of 26-15. Definitely our most lopsided win so far.

The weather for this game was again perfect. The temperature hovered around 19 degrees and there was a slight breeze that played no role in the outcome of this game. The sun was shining brightly when the game began, but before too long, darkness had set in. 

At game time (before actually), we had 10 Hurtin' Units warming up to take on the Sons of Pitches. Bo and Bill were the missing persons on the night. 

I really liked what I saw in this game. 

The End!! 


Okay, maybe not the end, but I saw something that made me believe we are better than our record would indicate. We have a strong compete level, and we believe we are never out of a game. It wasn't just this game, we have fought in every game we have played. We have been within a big inning in every game and this is with our bats not firing on all cylinders. I'm looking forward to the firing on all cylinders, 12 cylinders all finely tuned and hitting at the same time. ZOOM, ZOOM!!

Our bats have been our Achilles heel since games 2 and 3. Game #2 we scored a ton-o-runs early and coasted to a lopsided 26-15 victory, in Game #3 we got down early and battled back, taking a 23-22 lead in the top of the 7th inning, only to lose on a close play at first base. A total of 49 runs over the 2 games. We know we can "pump it up", we've already shown our power, we just need to get back, get back, get back, get back to where we once belonged. Get back, Bo, Bo. 

Mike suggested that we go back to our opening night lineup; I don't disagree, but with a few little changes, based on what I've seen from our batting. I really think we should load up with speed, power and consistent hitting at the top. There is good hitting from top to bottom, on this team, sooner or later it's going to show up. With the power we have on this team we should be scoring in bunches and not 7 runs over entire game. Our defense is keeping us in games. 

In this game against the Sons, we were again solid defensively, I found a nice groove pitching, and we kept the game close. If not for the solid defense of the Sons of Pitches we might have been right in the thick of things (in the lead) in this game. The Pitches defense really kept us from breaking this game wide open. The Hurtin' Units threw some decent hits at these guys; Mikey Boy hit the ball hard, once to SOPs pitcher Jeff, once to Cambo at Shortstop, both for outs. Dave Mill foul tipped to Rob (SOP catcher) for an out,  Paul G. (SOP thirdbase man) caught 2 line drives and knocked down several hard hit balls for outs, the SOP outfield (especially Micah) tracked down and caught multiple fly balls, and Clayton (SOP-2nd base) made a couple of awesome plays. We went 4 innings in a row without a run. 

On the score sheet I counted 12 P.Os (popout/flyouts), more than half of our outs were in the air. We just couldn't get anything to drop in. 

I mentioned our defense was really good and the majority of the SOPs runs came on hard hit, well hit balls that made it through. Vince made a great defensive play, in the outfield, throwing out a runner coming from first on a force play. Mike also made a beauty snag at first for an out. 

There was one play made by Scott (or should I say not made) when Scott held up on a fly ball, the ball dropped in, Scott slid on to his ass and the ball rolled by for a SOPs run. All you can do is laugh about this one.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this game, I really liked the way I pitched (except the first inning) and I thought we played awesome defense. The batting will come, it has to with this lineup. There are still 20 games remaining and I like what I see. Units Understand!!